Election day security patches

Brian Krebs

Adobe has released a critical security update for its Flash Player and Adobe Air software that fixes at least seven dangerous vulnerabilities in these products. Updates are available for Windows, Mac,Linux and Android systems.

The update, part of Adobe's regularly scheduled patch cycle for Flash, brings Flash Player to version 11.5.502.110 on Windows and Mac systems (other OS users see graphic this page). Adobe urges users to grab the latest updates from its Flash Player Download Center, but that option pushes junk add-ons like McAfee VirusScan.

The Flash Player installed with Google Chrome should soon be automatically updated to the latest Google Chrome version, which will include Flash Player 11.5.31.2 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Note that Windows users who browse the Web with Internet Explorerand another browser will need to apply the Flash update twice, once using IE and again with the other browser. Internet Explorer 10 users on Windows 8 can grab the update via Windows Update or from Microsoft's site, or wait for the browser to auto-update the plugin.

Adobe's advisory about this update is available here, including links to update AIR if you have that installed. An Adobe spokesperson said the company is not aware of any active attacks or exploits in the wild for any of the issues patched in this release. Nevertheless, it's a bad idea to delay Flash updates; the software's ubiquity makes it a primary target of malware and miscreants alike.